


A New Chapter

by LiveLaughLovex



Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: ALSO POSTED ON FF, AU Post 4x22, F/M, My version of a fix-it fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 02:14:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: The first time they had met, it had been over coffee. It only seemed logical that coffee (and doughnuts) would reunite them. OLAKE.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this to Fanfiction last year and completely forgot to post it to this account, as well. I hope you enjoy it! The first three chapters are up (they were published on FF in October), and new chapters will be published whenever possible.

Olivia Pope was exhausted. Sometimes, it seemed as if that were her only state of being. She had been doing this job for all this time, had been defending the innocent and the guilty with the same attitude for all these years, and yet every time she walked into her office, there was a part of her that wanted to turn around and walk right back out, to just leave the politicians to their own devices and hope that they developed a conscience of their own in their spare time, to let them deal with the problems that they created without her aid, to leave all of it behind for an island and a rare bottle of wine shared with the man that she loved. That dream wasn't achievable, though. Not anymore.

It had been six weeks since Jake had walked out of her life and told her to go to Fitz. She hadn't done as he had instructed, not because she was scared but because she finally saw things clearly. She saw things the way that they were supposed to be, and she had never been meant to be with Fitz. It wasn't until Jake was out of her life that she realized just how much she needed him in it. That seemed to be her luck in most aspects of her life.

Fitz was happy. She was thankful for that. As a woman who had loved him and as someone who still considered him to be a friend, she was relieved to see a smile on his face. There was also a small part of her that was overjoyed that that smile wasn't caused by her. After Jake had left, she had taken some time before traveling to the White House, but she hadn't gone to profess her love to the President of the United States. She had gone to say goodbye, to tell him that it was okay to move on, that they had been what they needed to for one another at a certain point in their lives but they weren't meant to be those people to one another for the rest of their lives. She had gone to tell him to be happy without worrying about what the world thought. There had been tears, of course; no matter how they felt, there had been something beautiful about the fantasy of a forever in Vermont. It hadn't been realistic, though, and lives weren't built from fantasies. As she watched him announce his divorce and begin to court his longtime friend Naomi Scott on the national stage, she didn't feel jealous of his happiness. After all the pain that they had caused one another, she was glad to see him healing. That didn't make her own situation any easier.

Jake wasn't answering her phone calls, which she deserved. He had probably seen the news, but that didn't mean anything to him. After all, in his mind, she and Fitz always found a way. She would have loved to tell him differently, but that would require her knowledge of just where in the world he had found himself, and since the man had as many aliases as he did safehouses, that was not an easy achievement. Huck and Quinn had turned OPA and Jake's vacated apartment upside down looking for clues as to where he had disappeared while she buried herself in their cases, but they had had little luck. That was why she had called it. That was also why she was in the office so early looking over cases that she wasn't likely to take on to stay out of the apartment full of memories of dancing and laughing with a man that had left town the moment that he had the chance without allowing her to give him a reason to stay. As she stared down at the screen of her phone, she wondered if the reasons she had to stay would have been good ones after all she had put him through. Considering that she was as available as she had ever been and her phone remained silent, she was becoming aware that they might not have worked after all. That was probably the hardest thing that she had ever had to accept. In fact, she still hadn't accepted it. She wasn't sure that she ever would.

A hesitant knock on the glass pane of her door pulled Olivia from her thoughts, and she mustered up a weak smile for Quinn as the younger woman entered her office and plopped down on the sofa with an exhausted sigh. "Jake's back in the States," she informed Olivia casually, causing the other woman to glance at her in confusion. "He was in Tahiti for a while, then went to Germany. Huck and I couldn't find him, but you have good connections at the White House. The President's apparently been aiding us in our search. Abby just called. He touched down at JFK two hours ago."

Olivia nodded slightly. "Well, it's nice to know that he's alive." She returned her attention to her work even though she could feel Quinn's eyes on her. Eventually, though, the scrutiny became too much, and she looked up from the files in front of her with an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Quinn? Was there anything else you needed?" she questioned with fake patience, raising an eyebrow at the junior member of her team with a polite smile on her face.

"Okay, I know that you're Olivia Pope and you prefer to hide your emotions in insanely expensive wine and equally bland popcorn, but this is big news. Jake is back in the States. You do know which Jake I'm talking about, right? It's the same one we've spent the last six weeks looking for." Quinn raised her hands in the air when Olivia failed to reply. "Olivia, this is Jake! He's one of your favorite people in the world, he's been your best friend since long before Abby started working for the White House. This is Jake. Why are you acting like you don't care?"

Olivia finally placed her pen on the table, closing the file in front of her with more force than was strictly necessary. "Because he left, Quinn. And he did that for a reason."

"Yes, his reason was because he was in love with you and thought that you were in love with another man. I'm not saying that he's not a complete moron, I'm just saying that maybe he deserves a chance to make up for his utter stupidity." Quinn plopped back down on the sofa after realizing that she had stood halfway through her rant. "He's back, Liv. That has to mean something."

"Quinn, he went to Tahiti. He was standing in the sun." Olivia shot her coworker an unimpressed look. "That was his way of letting go of what we had. Standing in the sun was always something we talked about doing together, and he did it alone. That means something more than him coming back ever could."

"You're both morons." Quinn waved a hand in the air when Olivia glared at her. "No, you know what, I'm not taking that back. I love you both dearly, you're my family, but you're so stupid when it comes to each other that it makes me want to tear my hair out. Did you even consider that maybe he needed to stand in the sun for himself before he could stand there with you? Jake is the definition of screwed-up, Liv. Your dad screwed him up and he screwed him over, and Jake, for all intents and purposes, is broken. He's shattered. He's the pile of ashes that was left behind when the man he was before he met your father was burned alive and shaped into something more capable of being understood. The only time that changes is when he's around you. And he hurt you, Liv. He loves you, and he hurt you, and there was something inside of him that made him do that. You are the most important person on this earth in the mind of Jake Ballard. He'd never risk that part of himself coming out again when it came to you; he loves you too much. Now that your father's behind bars, he has no one to fight against. He has nowhere to rid himself of that anger. Jake needed to stand in the sun. He needed to stand in his truth. And now he's come back. Maybe that means something more than where he went when he left." She stood from the sofa. "He doesn't have a place to stay here. If he rents one out, I'll tell you where to find him. Until then, Liv, stop being all dark and twisty and accept that he's back. The man that you're in love with, he's back. Celebrate that instead of burying your head in the sand and pretending that you're being logical." With that, the young woman walked out of Olivia's office, leaving her to think about all that was said and to overanalyze every word.

It was nearly ten in the evening by the time she walked out of OPA and locked the door behind her. The temperatures had been slowly warming and the humidity had been getting worse, which meant that her clothes were sticking to her by the time that she made her way to her vehicle. Fully aware that she likely wasn't going to get any rest that evening, she headed to the nearest coffee shop for an iced beverage. It didn't cross her mind until she was pulling into the parking lot that it just so happened to be the same coffee shop where she had met Jake for the first time several years before.

The place was nearly empty, and it didn't take long for her to place and receive her order. As she was making her way back to her car, she heard a familiar voice behind her call out, "You didn't order one of their doughnuts this time either, did you?"

She spun on her heel, staring in shock at the man in front of her. He smiled charmingly as he approached. "No, I didn't," she responded unevenly, her eyes never leaving his.

"That's too bad. They're the unsung heroes of the pastry case, you know."

"I think I've heard that before," Olivia responded with a small smile that quickly faded away once the man was directly in front of her. "Jake, what are you doing here?"

Jake shrugged. "I just got back. Something told me to come here." He stepped closer, so close that there were only inches between them. "I didn't know why until I saw you. It's like old times, isn't it?" he questioned, gesturing to the coffee shop behind them. "You and me and this place?"

"Yes, except that it's nothing like old times," Olivia replied dryly. "Because now I know who you are and you know who I am and we've both seen the best and the worst parts of one another. Now all our cards are on the table. That makes this chance meeting a lot scarier than our first." She switched her coffee to her other hand and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You went to Tahiti."

"I did," Jake agreed evenly. "It was beautiful there. Not as beautiful as that uninhabited island off the coast of Zanzibar, but still beautiful. I can't really blame Tahiti; after all, I didn't have you with me this time around." He tried to smile, but it wavered when he caught sight of the pain in Olivia's eyes. "I had to leave, Liv. You know that I had to leave."

"I know that you chose to leave," Olivia fired back angrily. "You didn't even stick around long enough to see what would happen, Jake. You just disappeared without considering how that would impact me or Huck or Quinn or anyone else that cares about you. You just left. I don't know how to trust a person that can just leave." She shook her head slightly. "And I know that's hypocritical of me, I know that I'm being unfair, but you told me that you loved me and then you left without letting me respond, so that seems a little hypocritical and unfair to me, too. In fact, I might even call it selfish."

"I told you to be with the man that you love, Olivia. I wasn't being selfish. For one of the first times in my life, I was being selfless. I just couldn't watch you be with him. And maybe you're right, maybe that makes me selfish, but I don't know how to deal with you being with him. I still don't. I came back thinking that I could learn, but now, standing here in front of you…" Jake trailed off. "It's like I enjoy torturing myself, because I love you and I want you to be happy, but I also love you enough to know that I might not be the one to make you happy. I just don't know if I've figured out how to deal with that yet. That's why I stayed away. But I'm back now, Liv. And I'm still your friend."

Olivia laughed without humor. "I didn't go to Fitz that night to pledge my undying love, Jake. I went to tell him that I was thankful for what he had been to me in the past and I would be thankful for his friendship in the future, but he and I were never going to have a house in Vermont with a jam-making kit and 2.5 kids running around in the lawn. He agreed. He's still in the process of getting divorced, but he and Naomi have begun seeing each other. She's beautiful and delightful; I can see why you're friends with her. She's also well on her way to thinking that I'm either depressed or crazy, which isn't the best thing considering that she's a shrink that just so happens to be extremely invested in your love life." She smiled slightly when he looked towards her in confusion. "I may have been a bit of a mess during those first few weeks after you left. Not a crying mess, but a workaholic mess. She and Fitz invited me over for dinner every night the moment that they started spending more time together, which was nice. I'm pretty sure they were doing it to make sure I was eating at least one meal per day, because there were a lot of calories in those dishes for evening meals, especially when Naomi looks like she does."

"Olivia, I left so that you could be with Fitz," Jake murmured. "You had your chance to take what was yours."

"See, that's the thing. The moment I saw them together, I realized that he was never mine. I also realized that I was never his." She smiled gently. "We were what we needed to be for one another at a time in our lives when we needed one another, but we were never going to last, Jake. Not with people like you and Naomi in our lives, not with people who, as hard as it is to admit, see the darkest parts of us and still accept and love us. Fitz and I weren't meant to last, and because I know that, I'm happy that he's happy." Olivia sighed, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Are you happy, Jake?" she questioned softly, causing his eyes to fly towards hers. "Because if you're happy, then I can let go. If you're happy, then I can be happy, too."

"I'm happier than I have been in a long time," he responded evenly. "I don't think that I'm happy in the traditional sense of the word, though. I don't know if I ever will be. I might be a little too damaged for that kind of feeling."

"Nobody is too damaged for happiness, Jake. Quinn and Naomi have been yelling that at me for weeks." She smiled gently. "Are you happy?"

"No," he replied honestly. "Not as happy as I could be."

"Then we should try to fix that." Olivia extended her hand in his direction. "Would you like to buy me a doughnut?" she questioned playfully as she pulled him back towards the bakery.

He chuckled as he allowed himself to be dragged behind her. "I would love to."

And thus began their new chapter. This time, though, they were both aware as they turned the page that it belonged in a love story. And while they were both still broken, acknowledging that allowed them both to take a small step towards putting themselves-and each other-back together.


	2. Chapter 2

When Olivia woke the next morning, the other side of the bed was empty. The sheets were cold, suggesting that either last night had been a dream or that Jake had long since vacated the room. As she sat up and stretched, the comfortable soreness of every nerve ending within her body informed her that the latter was true, and she smiled more shyly than was typical for her as she hugged the sheets to her chest and drew in a deep breath.

The previous night had been… she didn't think that there was a word for it. They had stayed at the coffee shop where they had first met for hours while they discussed every aspect of the past year of their lives and she finally admitted that his taste in doughnuts was superb. When they had departed the shop, there hadn't even been a question as to whether they would be leaving together. There also wasn't a question as to where they would both be spending their night. The moment that the door to her apartment had closed behind them, she had been pressed up against a wall, and there were capable hands helping her shrug out of her clothing and hot lips pressing against every inch of her skin as more and more of her became visible. She remembered nearly running into the wall in the hallway while on the way to her bedroom and bursting into laughter. She also remembered Jake scooping her up as if she weighed nothing and carrying her to the bed, dropping her against the mattress gently and shrugging out of his own clothing with a chuckle as she gazed up at him. As soon as they were both beneath the sheets, though, there was no more laughter. Everything became clearer, and as she came undone, she knew that this was exactly where she belonged.

Nothing was any different in the morning light. The previous night hadn't been a mistake, and no matter what happened next, she wouldn't see it as one. And knowing Jake as well as she did, she couldn't imagine anything he could do in the next ten minutes changing her mind.

She slid out from beneath the covers and reached for the pale blue dress shirt that had been tossed aside at some point during the night, pulling it over her arms and easily buttoning it up. She pulled her curls free from the collar before making her way down the hallway. She froze the moment that she entered her usually immaculate kitchen to catch sight of Jake standing in front of the stove while he flipped chocolate chip pancakes and poked at sizzling bacon. He flashed her a quick smile before returning his attention to the food. Olivia was too flabbergasted by the sight of her kitchen being used for an activity other than the popping of popcorn to fully appreciate the fact that he was preparing breakfast while shirtless.

Jake glanced in her direction when she remained silent, smirking at the look on her face before speaking. "You had no food in your kitchen," he informed her, his voice too full of the amusement caused by her reaction to sound reproachful. "I went out and got the essentials. Pancake mix, bacon, eggs. Speaking of eggs, I have no idea how you take yours. We only ate fruit on the island, and the only other time I made you breakfast…" He smirked again. "Well, I don't think you ate more than half of those pancakes before there was chocolate syrup everywhere and we got too distracted to think about anything else. Until, of course, we had to put the sheets in cold water and wash them three times."

Olivia smirked at the memory. "Those two old ladies did look at us judgmentally for that when we went down to the basement to do my laundry that day, didn't they? Do you even think they knew what was going on?" she asked rhetorically before her smile softened. "That was a good day." She approached him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Scrambled. I like my eggs scrambled."

Jake nodded, turning his head to press a kiss against her forehead. "Scrambled. I'll remember that in the future." He turned away for a moment to remove the finished pancakes from the griddle, turning down the heat once he was finished. He then cracked several eggs into a pan and tossed in some cheese and chopped green peppers before turning towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist to back her towards the counter on the other side of the room. He hoisted her onto the cold marble surface and smirked at her surprised expression before returning to the stove to check on the eggs. It only took minutes for him to finish what he was doing, and he turned off the burner beneath the pan before returning to her side and removing a chopping board from one of the cabinets. He made quick work of slicing fresh fruit, talking to her all the while, and Olivia was amazed by how familiar this felt after such a short period of time.

"I could help with that, you know," Olivia offered, stealing a piece of pineapple from the cutting board and smiling at Jake innocently when he glanced in her direction and playfully raised an eyebrow. "I might not be the best chef, but I am capable of slicing fruit. I don't seem to find it as difficult as you seem to think I do."

"Liv, I would love to believe you, but I'm still traumatized by what happened on the island. The last time you said you could slice fruit, I nearly had to reattach the tip of your finger. I didn't think it was possible for something that little to bleed that much." He smirked at her indignant huff. "That didn't sound like a rebuttal, babe."

"If you remember correctly, that wasn't completely my fault. You were distracting me," she defended playfully, laughing when Jake glanced up at her and then back at the neatly sliced fruit in front of him pointedly. "You were in the Navy, Ballard. You're better at multitasking. Also, you've never had to deal with the distraction that you cause by going without a shirt. It's hard to work in conditions like that, you know."

"Babe, you're wearing nothing but a shirt right now-my shirt, mind you-and let me assure you that that in itself is extremely distracting. I don't know how all my fingertips are still attached at this point, in all honesty." He smirked at her when she scoffed. "I'm being serious."

"Of course you are," she deadpanned, smiling when he leaned forward to press a chaste kiss against her lips. She sighed unhappily when he pulled away. "You better be willing to give me pancakes this moment if you're going to do that, Ballard," she complained. Her smile returned when he leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to the corner of her mouth. "That's very nice, but I was serious about the pancakes. I think I burned a week's worth of calories last night, and my body is becoming aware of it."

"Yes, ma'am," Jake chuckled, grabbing one of the plates he had previously set aside and piling pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fruit onto its surface. He doused the pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup before topping them off with chocolate shavings and freshly sliced strawberries. "Bon appétit," he said playfully as he placed the plate in front of her. "We won't ruin your satin sheets with them this time."

"Maybe next time," Olivia stated, cutting off a piece of the pancakes and placing the forkful on her tongue. She moaned quietly. "These are almost as good as some of the other things you do to make me moan." She chuckled at the offended expression on his face. "I said almost, Ballard, don't throw a hissy fit just yet." They finished their meal rather quickly, innuendos passing back and forth between them effortlessly amidst the equally easy conversation, and by the time that Olivia pressed a farewell kiss to his lips before heading to work after making arrangements to have lunch together early in the afternoon, she just knew that the day could only get better. That was the only mistake she made in the morning hours.

The office was nearly silent when she arrived, but the coats hanging by the door informed her that both Huck and Quinn had already arrived. She made her way into her office and dived immediately into her workload for the day, deciding which cases they would accept and which they would turn down before the hour was over. She accepted several phone calls and agreed to a few consultations for later in the day during this time, as well. By the time that Quinn finally knocked on the door and ventured into the room, most of Olivia's work for the day was already done. The first words that the other woman spoke erased that progress within moments and made Olivia dread the rest of her day for the first time since she had woken up that morning.

"Liv, we have a problem." The younger woman made sure that she had her boss's full attention before continuing. "Admiral MacArthur? We helped his wife's family with a cheating scandal a few years back?" She waited for Olivia to nod before continuing. "His office just called. Their oldest daughter, Estelle, was kidnapped from their home last night. They think the perpetrators have political motivations."

"He's a respected officer in the United States Navy that remains strictly apolitical every election cycle. His wife's family erased their affiliations to ensure that it would remain that way. What possible political motivations could his daughter's kidnappers have?" Olivia questioned as she sat up straighter in her seat.

"It's not our political atmosphere that's motivating them," Quinn explained, extending a file in Olivia's direction. "MacArthur has been involved with a lot of classified missions in the Middle East, and those missions have resulted in a lot of civilian casualties. More noncombatants lost their lives due to decisions he made the last time he was over there than insurgents. It didn't make it onto any American news channels, but it was breaking news for weeks over there. It was bad, Liv. There have been men demanding that MacArthur answer for his crimes against their families for months, but the United Nations claims that he and his men were acting in the best interest of the majority of the population throughout the operation. I guess that some of those angry people got tired of waiting for the UN to change their minds and decided to take matters into their own hands."

"Why didn't they go to the cops? They're practically royalty in this town," Olivia stated as she flipped through the file that Quinn had handed her.

"They are, but they're also very aware of what would happen if they went to the authorities. The kidnappers told them just their next course of action would be if they went that route. There are also suspects involved with all of those classified missions that the Admiral has under his belt, and the authorities aren't authorized to view that information."

"And why would we be authorized to view that information?" Olivia asked skeptically.

Quinn smiled secretly before replying. "Two reasons. The first is that you're known in this town for your ability to keep secrets. The second is that you've been publicly connected to Captain Jacob Ballard. If you were unaware, Jake is more popular than MacArthur has ever been."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Olivia muttered, reading the final page of information in the file before closing it and directing her attention to Quinn. "Go tell Huck that we have a case taking priority above everything else." She waited until Quinn nodded and left to do exactly that before leaning back in her chair with a weary sigh.

They were deep into the case by the early hours of the afternoon, and Olivia had completely forgotten about her lunch plans by the time that Jake walked into the conference room and leaned against the doorjamb. She glanced up and smiled apologetically, shrugging sheepishly as he made his way towards her.

Jake sighed good-naturedly as he stopped across from her. "I'm guessing that that facial expression means that we're not having lunch?" It was obvious from his tone that his question was more of a statement.

"Sorry, something jumped off," she apologized quickly, standing and pressing a quick kiss to his lips before reclaiming her seat and becoming engrossed in the files in front of her once again. "Speaking of which, I could use your help." She extended the file she was studying in his direction. "It's the second paper in there. We think it's a ransom note of some kind, but it's in a foreign language. Arabic, maybe? Huck couldn't translate it." She looked up at him hopefully as he accepted the file.

Jake squinted as he processed the information on the page. "Huck probably couldn't translate it because he was trying to translate Arabic into English when this is in Farsi. As for what it says, it seems like any other ransom note. Wait." He looked more closely at the document for a moment. "No, it isn't like any other ransom note, because it's not a ransom note at all. If you read the first paragraph, it looks like a note demanding money, but the second and third paragraphs completely change its meaning. 'If you do not resign, your daughter will meet the same fate that mine did.'" He looked up in confusion. "Liv, whose business are you getting into?"

"An admiral's daughter was kidnapped," she explained distractedly. "Jake," she sighed when she caught sight of his worried expression. "You know that we'll be careful. And even if someone tries something, I'm surrounded by assassins. I'll be fine." She tilted her head with a soft smile. "Would you feel better if you spent the day in my office?"

"Yes. I would also feel better if you'd eat lunch," Jake replied, smiling slightly when Olivia rolled her eyes. "Liv, you have to eat at least one meal per day. If you don't, you'll wind up either cranky or dead, and neither one of those screams 'good outcome' to me."

"I ate breakfast," Olivia protested.

"You ate a pile of sugar with a side of cholesterol. That's not enough to sustain someone for an entire day, no matter what your popcorn-trained body is trying to convince you right now." He reached across the table to brush a strand of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail out of her eyes and left his hand on her cheek. "If you won't eat lunch, will you at least eat dinner? Please?" He smirked at her when she hesitated. "I'll make your favorite," he promised with a wink.

"Are you even sure that you know what my favorite is?" Olivia asked, giving the man across the table her full attention as she closed one of the files she had been studying.

Jake chuckled and shook his head. "Liv, we lived together for two months and your cooking abilities somehow got worse. Of course I know what your favorite is." He raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"Fine," Olivia agreed with a small smile. "I promise to be home in time for dinner. It might be a very, very late dinner, but I will be there."

"That's all I ask." Jake circled the table and pressed a kiss to her cheek before moving onto her lips. "I'll spend the afternoon in your office, all right? If you're here past six or so, I'll go back to your place and make dinner. No matter what, I'll see you at home." With that, he walked out of the room and made his way down the hallway, not even pausing to consider his final statement. Olivia didn't have time to pause and consider it, which was probably for the best at that moment in time.

She hadn't been kidding when she told Jake that it would be a late dinner. He spent several hours in her office, but he eventually had to leave to deal with a crisis in the family (and that was how she learned what a mama's boy the man she had fallen in love with truly was). She, Quinn, and Huck didn't even pause for longer than the six seconds it took to say goodbye. They spent hours buried in the case before they finally found the girl and removed her from the hands of her captors, and the skies had grown dark long before Olivia finally ventured outside of the building and made her way to her vehicle. She slid behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition before making quick work of driving back to her apartment. For the first time in a long time, she had a reason to rush home.

The moment that Olivia walked into her apartment and closed the door behind her, she felt lighter. It smelled delectable in a way that it never did when she was left to her own devices when it came to preparing a meal, and the scents wafting through the air assured her that being apart for nearly two months hadn't damaged Jake's memories of their life on the island in the slightest. She walked into the kitchen with a small smile that grew larger the moment that the man in question turned away from the masterpiece that he was preparing on the stovetop to greet her.

Jake beamed at her as he set aside the spatula that he had been using and turned down the heat beneath the griddle. "I'm guessing that you found the girl?" he questioned hopefully, his eyes brightening even further when she nodded. "Does that mean that I get you for the rest of the evening?"

"Well, it's almost eleven, so the evening will be over in less than two hours, but yes, you get me for the rest of the evening," Olivia replied, placing her bag on the counter and walking towards him. She placed one hand on his cheek and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips that would've grown serious rather quickly if not for the fire still burning on the stove. She laughed against his lips when they both registered the scent of burning bread. "I'm guessing that that was something that needed your attention more than I did," she joked as she pulled away.

Jake cursed under his breath as he turned off the heat and removed the sandwiches from the griddle. He sheepishly held up the plate that he had placed them on before smiling wryly. "Next time, maybe we'll wait until there aren't yeast products on the stove," he deadpanned. "I will get back to work on these. You should go relax, because your day has been hectic from start to finish. You're one of the only people I know that makes up for being an hour late to work by staying six hours after closing time, you know. And you're your own boss."

"To be fair, you're to blame for my tardiness this morning," she replied, stepping backwards and lifting herself up on the counter across from him.

"I take complete blame and feel absolutely no guilt," Jake informed her seriously, putting together two more sandwiches for his second attempt at making her favorite comfort food (other than popcorn, which he still insisted was not a food). "What happened this morning was a very good excuse to be late for work."

"I don't have to make excuses to Quinn or Huck-which is good, because I think Quinn has a betting pool going with Abby about how many times my tardiness has been related to you in some way-but I guarantee that any other boss would not understand that excuse unless they saw you." She gestured to the pot on another burner. "Did you make that from scratch?"

"Of course. It was much easier this time around; the broccoli wasn't stored in a freezer." He flipped the sandwiches. "Are you going into work at the normal time tomorrow?" he asked conversationally, turning towards her for a moment before refocusing on the task in front of him.

"No, I gave everyone the morning off, and for once, I'm going to take it for myself, as well. Why? What did you have in mind?"

"My mother is in town," he informed her, sliding the sandwiches onto plates after ensuring that they were cooked to his satisfaction. He then ladled broccoli and cheese soup into two small bowls and placed them on the plates next to the sandwiches before carrying them to Olivia's dining room table. She followed with a chilled bottle of wine and two glasses, trying to calm her nerves. She realized that she wasn't going such a good job when Jake turned towards her with wide eyes. "Liv?"

"No, it's, uh," she stumbled, recovering quickly. "I'm glad that you're going to get a chance to see her, it's just…" She trailed off, shrugging. "Are you sure that you want me there with you?"

"Well, I always want you with me, and she very much wants to meet you, so it seemed like a good way to kill two birds with one stone." He paused, offering her a reassuring smile. "My mother is the least intimidating member of my family, Liv. I promise that she won't bite."

"The fact that she's the least intimidating member of your family doesn't comfort me as much as it should. I've seen you around people you don't like, and you're plenty intimidating." She drew in a deep breath. "If we're going to do this, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and meet your mother, aren't I?"

"That is an interesting way to describe it," Jake stated with a wry smile. "You've never actually met anyone's mother before, have you?"

"To be fair, none of the men in my past have ever had mothers that were still alive. Well, Edison did, but that woman hated me without even having to meet me." She winced. "Does your mother already hate me?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Jake replied amusedly. "You look like you're about to go into a full-fledged panic attack right now."

"I'm not very far off from one," Olivia admitted evenly.

"Liv, you've faced off against dictators, politicians, and kidnappers. You got a man elected to the White House twice and took down B-613. You've done all of that, and meeting my mother is what scares you?"

"Meeting your mother scares me more than all of that combined," she informed him seriously. "We're in a good place right now, a really good place, and I don't want to ruin it by angering your mother with some unimportant comment about the political atmosphere or something equally dry."

"Liv, if politics come up during this conversation, my mother will go out of her way to turn it into a discussion on the actual atmosphere, believe me." He finished his soup and moved onto his sandwich. She was only two spoonsful into her dinner, and her appetite was rapidly waning. "You're freaking out, aren't you?" He nodded to himself with a wry smile. "You want to run away, don't you?"

"For thirty minutes, maybe, or an hour? I'll come right back. I just need to…" She trailed off, shrugging slightly.

"You need to discuss this with someone that isn't directly involved in the situation?" He smiled when she nodded in agreement. "I understand. I will put your food in the fridge; we can warm it up when you get back."

"Thank you," she murmured appreciatively, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

He smiled up at her as she pulled away. "I love you, Olivia. And I'm trying to understand you. And so far, I think I'm doing better than I did before."

"I think you are, too." She smiled at him one last time before heading for the door. She knew before she even climbed into the elevator where she was going.

Quinn lived in a small apartment towards the edge of the city. Olivia didn't visit often, but she was almost always taken aback by the warmth of the place when she did. While Quinn was one of the kindest people she had ever met in most situations, she had also been a B-613 agent for months on end just years before, and 'warm' wasn't a word that Olivia would typically associate with the younger woman. As she was buzzed into the building, however, she found that she was very thankful for the coziness of the building on that particular night.

Quinn answered the door with bleary eyes that focused the moment that she caught sight of who had woken her. She hid a yawn behind her hand and then held the door open without a word, stepping aside to allow Olivia entrance. She then gestured towards the sofa and collapsed into the armchair across from it with an expectant expression on her face.

It only took Olivia a few moments to give in and begin speaking. "He wants me to meet his mother."

Quinn blinked slowly. "Olivia, I know that we're both private investigators and all, but I took off my white hat at about ten o'clock, and it's almost midnight. There's also a boy in my bed that I'd very much like to get back to, so while I love you like family, I'm going to need a little more context before I can talk you down from that panic attack that I can already see forming in your eyes and we can both go back to the men waiting for us."

"What boy is in your-you know what, I don't need to know. Jake's mother wants to meet me tomorrow morning. And I know that this is what people do, that this is what is normal, but I'm not normal, Quinn. I'm the opposite of normal. I don't meet boy's mothers and I don't dream about weddings or babies. I have never been typical in any situation before. I have never wanted ordinary. But with Jake… I think I'm scared because I want to meet his mother and I want this life with him. I'm scared because it wouldn't be ordinary with him, it would be…" She trailed off, unable to put what she was feeling into words.

"It would be extraordinary? All those things that people expect of you, all those things you've shied away from for your entire adult life, you want them with him because it would be different? You wouldn't lose yourself in it, and even if you did, it would be all right because you'd find yourself in it, too?" Quinn smiled when Olivia nodded once. "I'm not an expert by any means-the first two men I cared about ended up dead, and the latest two are both mercenaries-but I'm pretty sure they call that love."

Olivia smiled slightly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think they do."

Quinn beamed at her. "Well, don't stay here talking to me about it. You've already admitted it to me, and I've known for months. Now it's time to go tell him."

Olivia nodded and stood, heading for the door. She turned around as a thought crossed her mind. "Quinn, is one of those men you mentioned before the person in your bed right now?" she asked hesitantly.

Quinn was already shaking her head before the sentence was completely out. "Liv, as I mentioned before, I do love you very much, but you and Jake are like the mom and the dad of the group. No one actually wants to talk to their mom about sex."

Olivia nodded once. "Right." She adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder and turned around once again. "Well, have fun with…whatever or whomever you're doing this evening." She nodded awkwardly once again and opened the door, closing it softly behind her. "'Whatever or whomever?' Really?" she muttered to herself as she made her way back down the stairs and towards her vehicle.

The lights in her apartment were off when she made her way inside, but the food was already heated and waiting at the kitchen table when she walked in, suggesting that Quinn had been made very aware of how she was spending her evening prior to the minor panic attack that she had finally been able to talk herself out of. She ate the meal quickly and headed into her bedroom, surprised when no one was there. While the door had been locked, she had expected Jake to be asleep at that hour, not absent from the apartment altogether. Hoping beyond all reason that her minor panic attack hadn't triggered one for him, she showered, brushed her teeth, and changed into an oversized shirt that had previously belonged to Jake. She was going through the process of pulling her hair back when she heard the front door softly shut behind the man in question. She breathed out a quiet sigh of relief and turned around so that she was facing in the direction of the doorway. Her smile only widened when he appeared.

"I didn't disappear, I swear," he informed her seriously, the smile on his face the only giveaway as to how he was really feeling. "I just came to the terrifying realization that you had no ice cream in your house, and I couldn't let that stand."

"You've been in the Navy, and that terrified you?" Olivia questioned with a smirk, raising an eyebrow as she pulled back the covers and climbed beneath them.

"Liv, you seriously underestimate my love for ice cream if that's even a question that you have to ask." He handed over the paper bag that he had been holding and went into the bathroom to change. When he emerged, he headed into the kitchen and returned with two spoons. It was only after extending one in her direction that he finally slipped beneath the covers on his side of the bed.

"What am I doing with this?" she asked confusedly.

"We are eating ice cream," he informed her, his eyes suggesting that that should have been obvious. "What else is there to do?"

"Jake, it's midnight," she stated with a laugh, gesturing to the clock on her bedside table. "You want to eat ice cream at midnight?"

"Why not? Sometimes you have to live a little, Liv, take chances that you wouldn't normally take. For most people, that would involve jumping out of an airplane or scuba-diving, but since you've run two presidential campaigns and taken state leaders out of office, I figured activities like those would just be part of another Tuesday for you. Instead, we're eating ice cream in bed at midnight. This is so normal that it's approaching scary." He smiled at her exasperated expression and opened the container she was holding for her. "I will go jogging with you in the morning," he promised, removing his own container from the bag and popping off the lid.

"You would do that anyway."

"Okay, fine, I'll go jogging with you in the morning without complaining." He smiled when she begrudgingly took a bite. "It's good, isn't it?"

"It is," she agreed with a smile. "I feel just slightly childish, though."

"That's the point. Objectively, we both had sucky childhoods. You ever remember eating ice cream in your PJs?" He shook his head at the same time that she did. "Yeah, me neither. This is a missed piece of our childhoods, Liv. Enjoy it." He spooned another bite into his mouth before broaching the subject that they had both been avoiding subconsciously. "Did you and Quinn have a nice talk?"

"We did," Olivia replied evenly. "I figured out that I'm in love with you, so there's that."

It only took Jake a few moments to regain his normal breathing pattern after erupting into a coughing fit. As soon as he did, he glanced over at her in surprise. She simply smiled back at him and took another bite of her ice cream. "You said tonight was a night for taking chances," she reminded him. "That was the biggest chance that I could ever take." She smiled lightly. "And Jake?"

"Yes?" he replied, his eyes still wide from the shock of her previous declaration.

"I would love to meet your mother."


	3. Chapter 3

The next day dawned bright and early, but Olivia had made a promise to herself not to spend any more time than necessary panicking about the meal that she and Jake would be sharing with his mother later that morning. Instead, she laid on her side beneath the covers for a few minutes, her eyes never leaving Jake's face as she silently thanked whoever was listening for bringing the man next to her into her life. When he finally woke, his eyes blinked open slowly for a few moments before focusing on her, and the smile that he gave her would end wars if seen by enough world leaders. Laughter filled the room as he pulled her into his arms, but it soon gave way to other sounds. Because of the actions that produced those other sounds, they departed for the park nearly an hour later than they usually did. Neither of them had any regrets. In fact, the people passing them were probably terrified by the smiles that seemed to be permanently etched onto their faces.

They returned to her apartment with a little over an hour to spare before they had to leave for the diner, which was probably for the best. Olivia showered and did her hair and makeup quickly, but she still didn't have as much time as she had planned to agonize over what she was going to wear. She eventually settled on a blue blouse and gray slacks and slipped into the garments while Jake was showering. By the time that she had chosen shoes and a bag and was ready for the day, Jake was buttoning his blue dress shirt. When they made their way out the door, they had only minutes to spare.

Olivia had been to the diner where they were due to meet Jake's mother before; after her kidnapping, Jake had taken her there for breakfast several times to try to get her back out into the world before eventually giving up and allowing her to wallow for several weeks until she was ready to emerge back into reality. She had never been able to appreciate the food; those days, nausea was all that she had known, and while the meals placed in front of her had always looked and smelled delicious, she had never been able to take more than three bites without wanting to gag. While she would've been apprehensive about returning to the place in any other situation, it was familiar territory for her, and while she was calmer than she had been the night before, she needed all the help she could get if she was going to avoid having a panic attack in front of Philippa Martin.

Jake held open the door for her and took her hand in his after they were inside. He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand as they made their way towards a booth behind a friendly waitress with a southern accent, and Olivia drew in a breath of relief when it became obvious that they had beat Philippa to the diner. Jake allowed her to slip into the booth first, taking a seat next to her once she was situated and beginning a conversation on topics that neither of them were particularly interested in. Olivia knew what he was doing, but she humored him nonetheless, loving him even more for his subtle attempts to calm her down. By the time that one of the other patrons caught Jake's attention, Olivia had forgotten many of her reasons for being nervous. As soon as Jake stood and embraced his mother, though, they all came crashing back down on her.

In the eyes of the world, Philippa Martin was the epitome of political elegance. At sixty-seven years old, she still managed to find her way into fashion magazines on a regular basis, and her liberal views often separated her from her conservative family. Still, Philippa was loved across the country by politicians and voters on both sides of the aisle. She had managed to endear some of her more progressive views in the eyes of her siblings over the years, and she was a common sight at the residence of her younger brother in Virginia. Olivia had known who Philippa was even before she had known who Jake was. And for understandable reasons, that didn't make this first meeting any less intimidating.

Philippa smiled as she glanced in Olivia's direction, and Olivia immediately stood from the booth and extended a hand in the other woman's direction. Jake smiled at both women warmly before finally making the introductions. "Mom, this is Olivia Pope. Liv, this is my mother."

Philippa was the first to speak, a warm smile coming over her features. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Olivia. I've been harassing my poor son endlessly about introducing us since the first time that he brought you up in conversation, and Naomi's been singing your praises for nearly as long. I'm glad that my son finally got his act together."

"Thanks for that, Mom," Jake muttered under his breath, though a fond smile remained on his features. "And Liv has been very busy for the past year or so, all right? I didn't want to add to her stress." He allowed Olivia to slip back into the pew and then took his spot next to her while Philippa settled in on the booth's other bench. "I'm really glad you're in town, Mom. It's been too long."

Philippa smiled slightly. "Well, life does tend to get a bit more complicated these days than it did in the past. I'm just glad that Victoria is doing well enough with the baby that I could get away for a few hours to come here and see the two of you. You know as well as I do that Alexandra was a phenomenal mother to that girl, but she never did like the earlier stages of parenthood. Victoria is part of the new generation of Martin women, I suppose." She paused so that a waitress could take their drink orders and then redirected her attention to the two people she was dining with. "Olivia, my son never has told me exactly what it is that you do. He said you work in politics?"

"Yes, Ms. Martin. I run a small political consulting firm with several other people," Olivia explained, taking a sip of her orange juice when the glass was placed in front of her.

Philippa smiled. "Call me Philippa, please. There are too many Ms. Martins in my family; it would get extremely confusing rather quickly. And I seem to recall that he told me that you helped Fitz with both of his campaigns. That must've been fun."

It was in that moment that Olivia became aware of just how much Fitz, Jake, and Naomi had known one another prior to her involvement in their lives. "Yes, ma'am. I find that kind of work interesting. Your son spent a few days in the office during that time. He wasn't as intrigued." She glanced over towards Jake with a fond smile. "I think we permanently ruined the magic of politics for him."

"My family did that years ago, don't worry," Philippa chuckled. "I find it amazing that you were able to get him to pay any attention to anything involving politics. He's always been the kind of person who hates looking over numbers; that started when he was very little. Just ask his Algebra I teacher. I think he traumatized that poor woman with his antics more than any other student did in her entire career."

The waitress came to take their orders, and Jake waited to respond until the woman left. "I wasn't that bad, Mom."

"I got called into the office at least once a month, Jake," Philippa replied exasperatedly, a fond smile still on her lips. "You were a typical boy in some ways. I'm glad to see that you don't pretend to fall asleep when someone tries to make you do anything beyond basic math anymore. I'm more than aware of how many numbers are involved in the running of a campaign."

Olivia smirked as she looked over at Jake. "You used to pretend to fall asleep when she asked you to do a problem?" she asked amusedly, taking another sip of her beverage.

"Well, yes, but it was usually as part of a bet," Jake informed her, a cheeky smile coming onto his face.

"You traumatized a poor math teacher because of a bet?" Olivia laughed, shaking her head at him disapprovingly. "That was not very nice of you, Ballard. That was not very nice of you at all."

"I don't lose bets, babe," he reminded her. "It's another thing about me. I like challenges and I don't lose bets. I'm quite proud of my accomplishments on both parts."

"I am not that challenging," Olivia protested, unaware of the fond smile that Philippa was sporting as she glanced back and forth between the two of them.

"You called our first date a meeting, Liv," he reminded her, laughing when she erupted into laughter of her own and buried her face in his shoulder. He continued to chuckle as he looked down at her with a loving smile. "You were the definition of challenging." He glanced up at his mother. "We ended up eating a picnic on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial the first time that we got together because Liv here decided to pick a restaurant that I'm pretty sure people go to specifically to end relationships or negotiate the terms for divorces, and she refused to call it a date the entire time that we were out there."

"I called it a date once," Olivia reminded him. "Get your story straight," she teased.

"You called it a date by accident, doesn't count," Jake dismissed. "And after the second date, there were months and months of back and forth before we got anywhere." Olivia was aware of just how much he was leaving out for his mother's benefit, and she loved him even more for it.

"Well, I had to keep you on your toes, Ballard," Olivia replied with a smirk. "Can't let you have all the fun."

"Of course not. You wouldn't be you if you made anything simple." The way he said it, he didn't particularly mind how difficult their past had been if it had gotten them to this point in their relationship.

Philippa cleared her throat, reminding the other two people that she was in the room. "Olivia," she stated with a soft smile. "I am so grateful that you found your way into my son's life. Thank you for loving him."

Olivia smiled back just as fondly. "Thank you for raising him to be someone that is so easy to love."

Philippa had to return to Fairfax soon after they finished breakfast, so after they bade her farewell, Olivia and Jake went on with their day. Quinn had been half-asleep when Olivia had finally managed to get through to her on the phone while she and Jake were walking to the car and Huck had told her the previous day that Kim had finally agreed for him to spend time with his son, so Olivia made the decision to close the firm for the rest of the day unless there were any pressing matters to be attended to. After sending the text to both of her coworkers, she slid behind the wheel, ignoring Jake's protests. He sighed good-naturedly before circling around to the passenger seat and climbing into the vehicle. Less than fifteen minutes, they were at their destination.

While Jake's childhood had been completely miserable, there had been several years of Olivia's life during which her happiness was not fake. There had been a time when her parents weren't her biggest enemies, and she often missed those moments of her life. There had been days when she was young on which her parents had both taken off from work, and they had almost always ended up at in Washington, D.C. Olivia had developed her love for the capital at an early age, and while her mother's disappearance and supposed death and her father's indifference and employment history had ruined certain locations for her throughout the early years of her adult life, Jake and her friends had done their best to replace those bittersweet memories with happy ones (even when they did so unknowingly). When she was four years old, Maya had watched her walk slowly up and down the stairs of the Jefferson Memorial with a fond smile on her face. Twenty-nine years later, Jake Ballard had taken her to the same location for their first date. By doing so, he had unknowingly healed parts of her that she hadn't even known were fractured, but they had once again been broken time and again by their own actions and words and the actions and words of others. Now, it was time to create new memories where it all started.

Jake was laughing as she practically dragged him up the steps of the Monument. "I feel like you've stolen a page out of my book," he commented teasingly, following her without complaint nonetheless. "We haven't been here together in a while," he observed, allowing himself to be pulled down next to Olivia after she settled on one of the top steps. "What did you do when you came here before I brought you here for our first date?"

"We used to come up here and get drunk on Christmas Eve," Olivia informed him dryly, causing him to smirk and struggle to hold in laughter. "It was the compromise that Abby and I made after she tried to insist that we didn't need to work on Christmas Eve even if we had a case." She smiled fondly. "The next year, I gave up. We had Christmas decorations everywhere in the office; it looked like a scene out of a second-rate Better Homes and Garden magazine." She shrugged at his puzzled look. "Abby is an amazing lawyer. She's just not the kind of lawyer that could moonlight as an interior designer. I can say that, because I couldn't, either. We're going to have to hire someone." She glanced towards him quickly when she realized what she had said. "I mean…"

"Don't worry, Liv, I trust you not to turn my mancave into something girly," Jake replied mildly, his tone not reflecting the wide smile on his face in the slightest. "If you really doubt your abilities, we can always call Victoria."

"Okay, first, who said you're getting a mancave? Second, we're talking about a future fictitious house before we talk about the future. You don't see a problem with that?" Olivia asked incredulously.

"Oh, I see some problems with it, but I don't want Quinn to blame me for screwing with her sex life." She shot him a confused look. "Given the events of last night, I think it's safe to say that this conversation might end up panicking you, and I can't talk you through it because I'm in love with you, so you'll go talk to Quinn, but given the way that Quinn sounded on the phone earlier, I'm assuming that she isn't alone, and I do not want to be held responsible for whatever she's doing over there being interrupted, so if you want to be able to panic, we need to hold this conversation off."

"I should be able to have a conversation about the future without panicking. What is wrong with me?" Olivia groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Your father's a mass murderer and your mother's a terrorist and all of the people you're closest to-well, excluding Naomi and Abby, because I think they're as normal as anyone who befriends any of us is going to get-have worked as spies and/or assassins for the government at some point?" Jake offered mildly. "Given those parameters, I'm pretty sure you're doing an okay job of this whole life thing, Liv."

"Your life has been more painful than mine, and you're doing fine," she pointed out.

"Oh, I'm terrified," Jake replied without hesitation. "This is the realest thing I've ever had, Liv. It's terrifying. I'm just a government-trained military officer. I have an excellent poker face."

"Can you teach me your ways?" Olivia asked teasingly, causing Jake to chuckle. "You can have a mancave," she conceded, going back to their original discussion. "If you ever try to sleep in there when I piss you off, though, I'll make sure you know that I belong in our group of friends."

"How can you be terrifying and sexy at the same time?" Jake murmured, pressing a kiss against her lips.

She smiled into the kiss. "It's a superpower, my love," she whispered back, pulling away and leaning her head against his shoulder. "You want to hear something strange?"

"Is that anything different from what you normally say?" Jake huffed when she hit his chest lightly. "Ow. Fine, I'll bite. What is it?"

"I'm happy."


End file.
